Engines including compression-ignition engines, spark-ignition engines, gasoline engines, gaseous fuel-powered engines, and other internal combustion engines, may operate more effectively and with greater service lives with oil from which contaminates have been removed. In addition, engines may operate more effectively with fuel from which contaminates have been removed prior to the fuel reaching a fuel injection system or combustion chamber of the engine. As a result, engines may be provided with one or more fluid filtration systems to remove contaminates from the oil and/or fuel.
Filter systems often include a filter element having filter media for removing the contaminates from fluid. The filter media may become more resistant to flow of the fluid through the filter media as trapped contaminates build up on or in the filter media. This results in the need to replace or clean the filter media to rehabilitate the effectiveness of the filter system. In addition, before the filter media is replaced or cleaned, it is desirable for the filter system to be capable of continuing to allow fluid to circulate in the fluid system in order for the engine to temporarily operate.
When the filter media of conventional filter systems is removed for replacement or cleaning, the act of removing the filter element, filter media, and any associated parts from the fluid system may generally result in spillage of some of the fluid as the filter media is removed. For example, some filter systems require draining of a filter canister when removing the filter element. This may result in spillage, for example, if service technicians are not careful to ensure that the drained fluid is captured by appropriate containers. Particularly when the fluid systems contain petroleum-based products such as oil or fuel, it is undesirable to expose the environment to such spillage. In addition, replacing or cleaning a filter element may be particularly unpleasant for service technicians when the fluid spills from the filter system onto their hands and clothing. As a result, it may be desirable to provide a filter system that reduces the likelihood of spillage when the filter media is replaced or cleaned, and that enables the coupling and uncoupling of the filter element from a filter housing without the service technician having to touch the filter element.
A filter coupled to a housing is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,157,107 B2 (“the '107 patent”) to Weindorf issued Apr. 17, 2012. Specifically, the '107 patent describes a liquid filter having a filter housing with a drain passage. A filter element including a filter medium is arranged in the filter housing. A filter lid is configured to be connected to the filter housing. The filter lid has a filter bypass valve for bypassing the filter element when a pressure loss that is too high occurs when liquid passes through the filter medium of the filter element. First bayonet connectors are provided on the filter lid, and second bayonet connectors are provided on the filter element for connecting the filter element to the filter lid. A double-concentric seal is arranged on the filter element for closing off the drain passage.
Although the liquid filter of the '107 patent purports to facilitate decoupling of the filter element from the filter lid in a way that can be inexpensively and simply produced, it may still not address one or more of the possible drawbacks set forth above. For example, the double-concentric seal of the '107 patent may be complex and relatively expensive to produce. Furthermore, the arrangement of the '107 patent's liquid filter may result in undesirable spillage when removing the filter element from the filter housing.
The filter element and filter housing assembly disclosed herein may be directed to mitigating or overcoming one or more of the possible drawbacks set forth above.